


This House is Empty, But I am Not

by Pippinhotkangaroo



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2020-10-29 03:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20790155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippinhotkangaroo/pseuds/Pippinhotkangaroo
Summary: Grace Hargreeves is more than just a robot nanny. After Reginald's death and the children's return, she has to learn how to function without all the guidelines she has been given for her entire life.





	1. Before

Grace had the same routine since she was made.  
6:00 am. Power on and dust the pictures and her chair.  
6:10 am. Set the dining room for breakfast.  
6:20 am. Bring Reginald his tea and dust his office.  
6:30 am. Wake up the children.  
6:40 am. Serve breakfast.  
7:00 am. Breakfast ends.  
8:00 am. Lead the children in their lessons.  
11:30 am. Set the dining room for lunch.  
12:00 pm. Serve lunch.  
12:30 pm. Lunch ends.  
1:00 pm. Start tending the garden.  
2:00 pm. Finish tending the garden. Continue dusting the house.  
4:00 pm. Finish dusting. Do the laundry.  
4:30 pm. Repair torn clothing.  
5:30 pm. Set the table for dinner.  
6:00 pm. Serve dinner.  
6:30 pm. Dinner ends.  
9:30 pm. Bring Reginald his evening tea.  
10:00 pm. Check that the children are asleep.  
10:30 pm. Power down.  
As the children grew older, she added in new tasks. 10:21 pm. Sing Ben to sleep. 1:00 am. Comfort Klaus. 7:10 pm. Help Diego with his stutter. Reginald disapproved of the attention she gave them, saying that they were weapons and she needed to stop. Grace never did. She wasn’t just a machine, thought Reginald had made her to be just that. He had made the perfect AI, an AI that had gained sentience and given herself a name. She had grown genuine feelings for the children, and sometimes tricked herself into thinking she was more than just metal, that she could be the real mother they deserved.   
Then as the children started to leave, she subtracted tasks, updating her own schedule and leaving lots of gaps in her time that had never been programed for her to fill. There were several times Pogo or Luther would find her idling in a corner, waiting for her next instruction. She would dust the vase in the entry hall for 30 minutes until her time alloted for dusting ran out. She would still knock on every door in the hallway to wake the children up, even when they where all gone. At 10:00 pm every night, she would open every door and wish empty beds goodnight. For years and years, she cleaned an empty house filled with empty rooms and empty cupboards. The emptier the house, the emptier she became, until she started to break down. Her internal clock jammed, and she would wake up at 6:00 pm, bringing Reginald his tea when he was expecting dinner. So he took her and fixed her, rewiring her brain and nerves but leaving something out. And when he died, she knew something was required of her, but she didn’t know what. So she walked away.   
Pogo found the body at exactly 9:51 pm. She knew because she heard his yell.


	2. 1991

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1991, two years after the birth of the children. Grace feels different, and Pogo is acting strange.

“A is for aim. B is for block.”  
Allison giggled and reached for the B card, her little arms not quite reaching. Grace smiled and put it down, picking up the C. “C is for choke. Can you say C, Allison?”  
Allison picked up one of the cards and brought it to her mouth, cooing. Grace smiled again. “Close enough.” Her head ticked and her eyes unfocused. Abruptly, she took the card from Allison and added it back to the flashcards, putting them in the box and standing up. Stepping over the other toddlers, she put the box on the shelf and folded her hands into her apron, marching down the stairs towards the kitchen.  
Grace pinched the corner of the tablecloth, smoothing it out. Surveying the table, she nodded, then ticked her head to the side as the clock in the hallway chimed through the house. Reginald came in first, then the nannies and Pogo with the children. Smiling, Grace placed plates in front of everyone before retiring to the corner until the end of the meal.  
Out in the garden, the sun was bright and heading towards the back of the house. She would have an hour of good, unobstructed sunlight for her work. Walking to the far back planters, Grace lifted up the watering can and poured with careful precision over the carrots, peas, and tomatoes growing there. The garden was a system of grids, with six grids in total in each planter. Planter one was two grids of tomatoes, two grids of carrots, and two grids of peas. Planter two was two grids radish, two grids cucumber, and two grids marigolds. Reginald had been skeptical of the last ones, saying they weren’t required for a garden, but Pogo had stepped in and advocated for them, saying it would help the children take an interest in the garden growing up. Reginald hadn’t responded, but the seeds arrived with the others nonetheless.  
Speaking of Pogo, Grace heard his uneven gait behind her. She continued watering the plants, looking carefully for weeds or bugs. Pogo stopped behind her, clearing his throat. Grace turned around, smiling. “Yes, Pogo?”  
“Grace. How are you doing?”  
Grace’s eyebrows knit together for half a second before smoothing back out. “Is something wrong?”  
“No, of course not! I was just wondering. You know,” he sighed and clasped his hands behind his back, leaning over the marigolds, “polite conversation.” One of his hands reached down to pinch one of the stems. Grace followed his hand, tensing slightly before relaxing again.  
“While you mention it, Pogo, I have been feeling strange lately. Maybe I should alert Reginald.” Grace turned back to the house.  
“Grace,” Pogo interrupted. She turned back around. He looked away briefly before looking at her again. He sighed deeply. “I’ll tell him. You enjoy your gardening.”  
Grace blinked and smiled. “Of course, Pogo. Thank you.” Reginald never called her about it. She never mentioned it to Pogo again, and he never brought it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are wild. What do you mean people read chapter one. What do you mean people like it? I wrote this for my one friend that kept begging me to write fan fiction and you guys are making me feel so nice. In other news, I have a vague plot so! I'll keep updating! Do I know when? No. Sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Man, Pogo's being funky today, huh?

7:05. Grace turned off the faucet and pulled on her gloves. _Hers_… hers? No. The gloves. Not hers. Why, that would be silly. She smiled and picked up the dish soap, adding it into the water. _Hers_… when did she start thinking like that? She blinked and gasped, quickly putting down the dish soap as the bubbles reached towards the edge of the sink. “Oh dear…” Grace sighed. Maybe she should talk to Reginald about this. But for now, she had a task, and she needed to do that first.

The last plate slid into the cabinet with a gentle clatter. Grace sighed and stepped back, surveying the room, scanning each surface. Satisfied, she checked the time. _7:30 exactly. Good_. At least her timing was still perfect, even if her thoughts were starting to stray. Quickly, she checked the date. _August 20, 1994. Saturday_. No class for the children today, which meant time to talk to Reginald. Exiting the kitchen, Grace made her way to the upstairs office where Reginald surely would be writing in his journal.

The library was leaking soft music as Grace walked past. She slowed and peeked in, seeing Vanya playing her violin for an audience of one. Pogo watched her intently, smiling. When Vanya finished, he clapped politely. “Very well done, Miss Vanya. You’re getting more talented by the day.”

Grace stepped into the room, smiling. “That was beautiful, Vanya.”

She spun around, surprised. “Oh... thank you, mom.”

Pogo looked up at Grace. “Oh, Grace, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Of course, Pogo.” She smiled widely. Vanya looked between them.

Pogo opened his mouth to speak before seeming to think better of it. Turning to Vanya, he said, “Please excuse us. I’ll be sure to come back for an encore, though.”

Vanya gave him one of her sad smiles. “Okay Pogo.” She turned back around and flipped the pages in her music book.

Pogo took Grace’s arm and walked her back downstairs. “Grace, I wanted to ask you how you were feeling again.”

“Well…” Grace paused. Why pause? There was a clear answer here. But she couldn’t seem… “Well. Odd.”

“Odd?” Pogo looked at her intently. “Odd how?” He didn’t seem shocked or concerned. Almost like he expected it.

Grace shook her head. “I’ve been thinking. About things that I’m not programed to think about.”

“Like what?”

“Well today--” Grace gave a startled little laugh at the memory-- “today I thought as the dish gloves as my dish gloves. Isn’t that weird?”

Pogo laughed as well. “I don’t see why. You are the only one who uses them, so they would be yours.”

“But I’m a robot, silly. I don’t possess anything. I’m certainly not programmed to possess anything. In fact, I was just going to talk to Reginald about it.”

Pogo shook his head, still holding Grace’s elbow. “Oh, don’t worry about doing it yourself, Grace. I can alert him to it. Besides, I don’t see why he’d want to change it. This means he created a robot that can self update and think for itself! He should be proud.”

Grace’s smile waivered. “But… well… I should still update him about it myself. After all, I’m programmed to report any anomalies in my system to him.”

Pogo’s stare got more intense. “Don’t worry Grace. I said I would tell him. You trust me, right?”

Grace’s smile returned. “Of course I do, Pogo.” Of course she did.

Pogo patted her elbow. “I’m glad to hear that, Grace.” He turned to head upstairs, leaving her standing alone in the foyer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I forgot. Someone left kudos at two am and then I remembered about this. Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Pogo's wilding today is he alright?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I'm new! I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I do plan to keep going! I don't really know when I'll be updating, so we'll see what happens.


End file.
